This is a slightly edited reflection from my Instagram post dated 10th June 2024. It is about a 12-point manifesto for the future. Co-authored by three members of the Neurodiversity In/and Creative Research Network RCA-trained Natasha Trotman, English and neurodiversity support specialist Dr Stefanie El Madawi and myself, it argues for a decolonised ‘Creative Neurodiversity Studies’ that (re-)centres ‘neurodiasporic subjectivities’ and ‘(in)formal education’, and makes a contribution to epistemic and social justice, creative research and more. The citation for the chapter is: El Madawi, S, Tan, KS and Trotman N. c2026, ‘Towards a Decolonised “Creative Neurodiversity Studies”: Post-normative futures through neurodiasporic subjectivities and (in)formal education’. In R.Dhital & KS Tan (eds), A Handbook of Neurodiversity and Creative Research, Routledge.
There’s been an explosion of interest in neuro-non-conformity with the many academic books (framed around sociology, critical disability studies etc) & media interest (‘celebs’ coming out as neurodivergent: Gen Z on Tik Tok sharing their ‘neurospiciness’ and more). Last week alone saw several articles in the Guardian that discussed neurodivergence beyond both the medical and superpower tropes.
As a strategic activist (or ‘gentle anarchist’, after Chinese Daoist philosopher Lao Zi as I positioned myself in my PhD 2014), I’ve always maintained that ‘mainstreaming’ something – not keeping it hidden/for the precious few — is a good thing.
Also unlike the gatekeepers of the neurodiversity movement, I’ve insisted from pretty much the day when I was slapped (in 2015) with the labels of ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia (and, later, autism), that we must ‘diversify neurodiversity’ & dismantle the dangerous, single story dominated by the autistic, ‘high-functioning’ (sic) white-supremacist cis-het-neuro-normative capitalist patriarchal and/or global north.
So, instead of Thunberg/Musk tech-bro/‘Rain Man’ types, intersectional & decolonial prisms are needed to not just celebrate the likes of sci-fi bestseller Octavia Butler who was Black & dyslexic, but to examine & embed the strategies & ideas offered by neurodivergent creatives who are multiply marginalised.
TLDR: Fighting ableism will fail if other oppressive habits/structures (trans-, Islamo- & other phobia) are reproduced.
Here are extracts from a chapter co-created with Stefanie El Madawi and designer Natasha Trotman for a decolonised ‘Creative Neurodiversity Studies’.
Following Kodwo Eshun’s ‘afrodiasporic subjectivities’, it also introduces ‘neurodisaporic subjectivities’ & asks Higher Education to stop harming ND inhabitants – including non-white ND staff.
The chapter, with 12 demands, is in A Handbook of Neurodiversity And Creative Research (Routledge c2026) I’m co-editing. The 8 other chapters are by authors from the global 425-member Neurodiversity In/& Creative Research Network set up in 2020, including neuroqueering’s Nick Walker.
The deadline’s 2050, but the asks are not new. Why tf are we still here?
What will you do?